February 5, 2009

In the mail - finally

I had the best intentions for a handmade Christmas last year, I really did. But then school and rearranging our house to accomodate month-long visitors took over and my plans went up in smoke. Things got so out of hand that I didn't even manage to finish my gifts for my niece and nephew which I feel pretty guilty about. And they were going to be such good gifts.

For my sweet niece, a patchwork pillow in green and purple to coordinate with her bedroom. The center panel is an embroidery based on the Wee WonderfulsPeppermint Fairy Stitchette. I swapped her candy cane for a bouquet of flowers and the peppermints for sparkles and gave her a coordinating outfit to the fabrics I wanted to use. The fairy tale print fabric is from Superbuzzy, as is the green umbrella print and the purple/orange flower print. I put a hidden zipper along the bottom seam and lined the patchwork panel with muslin to make it a little sturdier. Plans are in the works for a coordinating doll quilt for the gorgeous doll bed that my brother made for my niece's last birthday.

And for my car and train obsessed nephew, a pillow based on one of the Christmas Wishes Stitchettes stitched on linen. The cars, stripes and blue/red fabrics were Superbuzzy purchases, but I'm sure I've seen these prints elsewhere. In all honesty, this didn't turn out exactly how I had imagined. I wanted to use train fabric instead of the cars, but it just didn't work so I swapped it out at the last minute. Also, I would have like to do the embroidery on black linen but for the life of me couldn't transfer the drawing satisfactorily. Anybody have any hints? Hopefully it's good enough to impress a four year-old boy.

I added an outfit for each of them and a couple of these awesome Glitter Balls to the box and sent it off this morning. Hopefully it will get there for Valentine's Day. Better late than never, right?

1 comment:

Oh thank god! I thought I was the only one. I too have a box full of holiday goodies to mail. And, I still have some more things that need to get made! I am taking the good food philosophy. "Your gifts are being made to order, so please be patient!"